Sudan Freedom Walk Delivers Message to Congress

October 9, 2010

Sudan Freedom Walk today announced a new initiative to bring attention to the largest African nation of Sudan as it approaches the most critical moment in its modern history. On January 9, 2011 the people of South Sudan, who are mostly non-Arab Christians and traditionalists, are scheduled to vote for independence from the North dominated by Arab Muslims. At the same time, the people of Abyei – an oil-reach region situated on the South-North border – will vote on whether to remain a part of the North or return to the South, from which they were transferred by the British in 1905.

“There is a great danger of another bloodshed in my country. American people and leaders are capable of preventing it and I will do all I can to make sure Sudan is on their agenda,” said Sudan Freedom Walk’s Co-Founder and an escaped slave Simon Deng. “Starting November 9th I will visit the offices of every congress person to ask them to support my people at this pivotal time. I want to make sure that if a war breaks out in Sudan, nobody can say he or she did not know,” Deng added.

Simon, who has recently marched for 250 miles from New York to Washington, DC to raise awareness about Sudan, will conduct the walk barefoot in solidarity with all marginalized Sudanese people. During his visits Simon will also deliver a letter asking congress people to stand with the Sudanese by:

• Supporting John Kerry’s Sudan Peace and Stability Act of 2010• Joining Simon at the press conference on November 18th• Pressuring the Obama administration to:1. Ensure full implementation of the CPA, including free and fair referenda in South Sudan and Abyei 2. End the genocide and bring peace to Darfur and to other marginalized areas including South Kordofan, Blue Nile State, Eastern Sudan and Nubia3. Work to eradicate slavery throughout Sudan4. Hold accountable those who sabotage efforts to achieve lasting peace in Sudan and those who committed crimes against humanity in Darfur and other areas5. Support the unity of the people of Southern Sudan and the development of an inclusive constitutional system government as expressed in resolutions of All Southern Sudanese Political Parties' Conference of 2010

“Simon and the Sudanese Diaspora here in the US are doing an extraordinary job with supporting their brethren. I call on the American people and leaders to join them in this noble cause,” said Dr. Charles Jacobs, the President of the American Anti-Slavery Group – an organization that partners with Sudan Freedom Walk.

Sudan’s indigenous African peoples have been historically oppressed and marginalized by various Arab minority-ruling regimes in Khartoum. This marginalization intensified when the radical Islamist regime of National Congress Party (formerly National Islamic Front), led by indicted war criminal Omar Al-Bashir and an extremist cleric Hassan Al Turabi, seized power in a military coup in 1989.

Deng, who was enslaved for three years by an Arab family in the North, explained: “For more than fifty years the tyrants in Khartoum tried to exterminate Sudan’s African peoples. They did it in the South, the Nuba Mountains and in Darfur. They did it to Christians, traditionalists and even to their fellow Muslims.”

The latest assault on the South (1983-2005) claimed over two million lives leaving four million homeless. The government in Khartoum and its allies indiscriminately bombed civilian populations, burned villages, manufactured famines, raped and enslaved thousands. The same tactics were used against the people of Nuba Mountains and most recently, against the people of Darfur.

“South Sudanese will never go back to Arabizaton, Islamization, rape and slavery. Nothing will stop us from achieving freedom,” he added.

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